'Tiny Furniture' is indie film with big heart

“Tiny Furniture” is a quiet movie without a lot of action, but the insecure, unsure heroine is someone many women can identify with –– even if it’s just a tiny part of them.

Meg Quinn-DeBoer

Movie: Tiny Furniture

Not rated, 98 minutes

Starring: Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunham

Meg’s rating: Recommended

Lena Dunham is a good contact to have in the movie business. Just ask her sister, mother, best friends and neighbors. Those are the people she cast to co-star with her in the largely autobiographical, independent film “Tiny Furniture.”

When I met with her in Boston recently to discuss the film, I asked her about the strange title: “It’s a term that’s been around in my life for a long time. My mom works with miniatures in her photography — that’s her job.”

At least that’s one of her jobs, now that she is appearing in her daughter’s films. Dunham said casting her friends and family seemed the best thing for the film.

“I think they’re really interesting, beautiful women who I’d like to see in a movie. I could cast actors but when you write this character that’s based on someone and you write it because that person fascinates you and makes you feel inspired — if you think they can do it, why not? It was written for and about them.”

As far as future collaborations with her relatives she said, “I have a feeling they’ll make cameos in everything I do, forever.”

“Tiny Furniture” is about Aura (Dunham), a young woman with a college degree but few prospects. She moves back in with her mother and sister shortly after graduation. She ends up working in a low-paying job and meeting low-life men who take advantage of her. Aura reconnects with a high school friend who raises her spirits while convincing her to lower her expectations about life.

At just 24, Dunham wrote, directed and stars in the film. She is a brave filmmaker who is not afraid to expose her talent — or her body — on screen.

Of her brief nude scenes in the film she said, “I would never ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t do. I don’t think I’d want to do it for another director because it would make me feel not in control. I hope the nudity isn’t gratuitous — it’s definitely character driven.”

She added, “Also, it was important that I’m naked and I don’t look like a supermodel. I haven’t seen a lot of women who look like me or ‘normal people’ with their clothes off in a movie.”

“Tiny Furniture” has won several awards, including the prestigious Jury Prize at the South by Southwest Independent Film Festival in Austin, Texas. But it has brought Dunham more than accolades.

“It brought me tremendous personal satisfaction and it really solidified my working relationships with people I love. It’s made it possible for me to get more work as a filmmaker. When you make low-budget movies, you want to make more of them,” Dunham said.

The busy writer/director/actress will definitely be making more movies, just as soon as she can fit it into her schedule.

“I’m working on the HBO project [called “Girls”], writing a script for someone, adapting a book and also working on a script of my own,” Dunham said.

Apparently, having all these projects keeps her grounded.

“I feel lucky. I really like to be busy. I get panicked if I’m not,” she said.

Shot on location in her mother’s NYC loft, and filmed on a small budget with a minuscule cast in a short timeframe of just 18 days, “Tiny Furniture” might be considered a small movie, but it’s got a big heart — Dunham said she considers the movie a love letter to her family.

“Tiny Furniture” is a quiet movie without a lot of action, but the insecure, unsure heroine is someone many women can identify with –– even if it’s just a tiny part of them.